Pacers Media Day
By TYLER SMITH
ISL Editor
INDIANAPOLIS — Media Day is always an exciting day for basketball fans. The weather is starting to change. MLB Playoffs are getting set to begin. And basketball is right around the corner. Media Day also represents a fresh start, and a brand new journey ahead for the Indiana Pacers.
While there’s always a sense of optimism at these events, this year featured a different overall vibe for this group. The franchise is coming off a trip to the Eastern Conference Finals, and they managed to “take care of their own” this off-season, with plans of running it back with this young and hungry squad.
Here are some of the key quotes from Monday:
•Rick Carlisle– “We want to build on what we did last year. There will be an awful lot of attention paid to the defensive end. From All-Star to the end of the season last year, we were 18th in defense. We believe we can get better. Defense has to be a constant if you want to win a championship.”
•Rick Carlisle– “There are only so many minutes. There’s a clear case for at least 11 guys that should be playing. That obviously won’t be the case. I want to see what guys can bring each and every day. Competition is a great thing. It brings out the best in everybody. It’s no secret to our players that we’re deep and have talent. You can look at it and say we have a jog jam, or this or that. Or you can look at it and say we’ve got a lot of juice and a lot of depth. Depth will help with injuries.”
•Tyrese Haliburton– “There’s so many good teams in our conference battling. The gap from 2-8 isn’t very large. When you’re in a slump, how quickly can you get over it? We have to grow as a group.”
•Tyrese Haliburton on the Pacers being doubted- “I could show you my bookmarks. I’m like chronically online. Type Pacers into Google and you’ll find it. It’s everywhere.”
•Andrew Nembhard– “I’m always trying to build on my game. We gained a lot of confidence from that run. We learned a lot in that (Boston) series about the importance of every possession, and the importance of closing games. That experience will help us this year.”
•Myles Turner: “Last year was fun. Winning, it’s addicting. Winning a conference semi-finals at Madison Square Garden? I want more. At the same time, we know it’s a process. And that’s also what I’m addicted to.. the process of every day. Ultimately we fell short last season. It was fun, but we want to do more. We’ve got to start better.”
The Pacers extended several players this summer. Here are some of the comments from that group of players:
•Nembhard– “It was a pretty quick process. I didn’t even know I was up for an extension until the season ended. It wasn’t a hard decision at all. It was a quick accept. I want to be here for a long time.”
•Obi Toppin– “When I put that pen to paper, I was super excited. We just love everybody in the organization. We felt accepted and had an amazing year last year. It’s a blessing.”
•TJ McConnell– “The window we have as an organization, the people we have here.. I wanted to be here long term. It was an easy decision.”
Full video from every presser on Monday below:
